Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction featuring original characters and characters from the TV show, "General Hospital". There is no money being made from this and no copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: This story is a Christmas gift for the talented Suerum who has been quite an inspiration and a great friend to me. This story is AU and does not mesh with the storyline on "General Hospital".

So, this is Christmas

"Can't this wait until after the holidays?" Spinelli had just entered the penthouse and shrugged out of his jacket. He'd had a long day and was looking forward to getting some rest.

"No, Spinelli, it can't."

Jason gave him an exasperated look. It was one he'd been giving him a lot lately. The one that communicated, You're a moron and I am this close to getting rid of you.

Spinelli knew, or at least he thought he knew, that Stone Cold would never say those words to him. The closest that Jason had ever come to speaking those fateful words was to intimate that he should book a hotel room until after Brenda had left Port Charles and the Balkan ordeal was over.

At the moment, he was hard-pressed to understand why he hadn't simply left. In hindsight (wasn't that always twenty-twenty?) it might have been the best overall option and he wouldn't have to feel so…guilty…over meeting Carly on the side to discuss what was up with Brenda and Sonny's newest kin, Dante, the Deceptive One.

"But," Spinelli sighed, eyeing his jacket mournfully, "it's Christmas Eve."

He didn't have any special plans for this Christmas Eve, but it had always been a special day for him, along with Christmas itself. Ever since he was a child, he'd thought of it as a day which should be set aside for listening to Christmas carols and eating gingersnaps and iced sugar cookies while opening presents and sipping cinnamon-spiced apple cider.

Jason rolled his eyes. "I know that," he ground out, quickly losing his patience with the hacker. "And this can't wait until after the holidays. What do I pay you for? To question the assignments I give you or to actually do them?" His eyes darted off toward the staircase and Spinelli surmised with a single intake of breath what his roommate was on about.

The man wanted some alone time with the Fair Samantha and had concocted some lamebrain excuse to get Spinelli out of the penthouse rather than being upfront with him. Spinelli's eyes filled with tears, but he ground his teeth and steeled himself as he turned away from his mentor's duplicitous gaze. He would not allow the man's, no matter how much he revered him, lies cut him to the quick like this.

He just wished for once that Jason trusted him enough to tell him the truth – which was that he was sending him out of the penthouse on Christmas Eve so that he could be alone with the woman he loved. He understood that, hell, if he was still with Maxie, he would've wanted the same thing for himself. It just hurt that Jason could not communicate this to him without creating some elaborate ruse, as though that would spare his feelings or something.

"I see," Spinelli let out another sigh and picked up his discarded jacket, slinging his computer bag over his shoulder as he walked wearily to the door that would lead him once more out into the bitter cold winter night's air. "Don't wait up for me," he muttered beneath his breath as he pulled the door open and let it slam shut behind him. The sound echoed throughout the penthouse and the hallway.

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